On the nightstand

Here's a stack of books in various stages of being read and appreciated. More about the rest of this month's reading adventures by next Tuesday.

■ An Education (Lynn Barber)
Memoir. In April, I was mesmerized by Carey Mulligan's performance in An Education, which is based on one section of Lynn Barber's brilliant memoir. This was one of those situations in which reading the book followed watching the movie, but neither work suffered by the comparison. In fact, I highly recommend both the film and Barber's wry autobiography.

■ Quicksilver (Neal Stephenson)
Fiction. I guess you could say that Girl Detective is making me do it. I think. Heh, heh, heh.

■ Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith (Deborah Heiligman)
Non-fiction. The author paints a remarkable portrait of a marriage if not defined then certainly shaped by the conflict between one spouse's religion and the other's science. Replete with insights into Victorian society and excerpts from primary source materials (letters, journals), this is a near-perfect biography. One quibble: The writing is sometimes painfully simple. If the intended audience can make its way through the excerpts from Darwin's texts, the passages from Jane Austen's novels, and the quotes from family letters and journals, then it can certainly handle a more sophisticated prose style from Heiligman.

■ Desperate Passage: The Donner Party's Perilous Journey West (Ethan Rarick)
Non-fiction. Just started this gift from Aunt M-mv.

■ The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading (Lizzie Skurnick)
Non-fiction. This has been on the shelves for a while. I pulled it down thinking it might be a good companion during swim practices.

■ The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ (Philip Pullman)
Fiction. Part of the Canongate myth series. I am actually rereading this.

■ Readicide (Kelly Gallagher)
Education.

■ Story Craft (John R. Erickson)
Non-fiction.

■ The Happiness Project (Gretchen Rubin )
Memoir.